eradication

eradicator

Examples of eradicate in a sentence

The disease has now been completely eradicated.

His ambition is to eradicate poverty in his community.

Did You Know?

Given that eradicate first meant "to pull up by the roots," it's not surprising that the root of eradicate is, in fact, "root." Eradicate, which first turned up in English in the 16th century, comes from eradicatus, the past participle of the Latin verb eradicare. Eradicare, in turn, can be traced back to the Latin word radix, meaning "root" or "radish." Although eradicate began life as a word for literal uprooting, by the mid-17th century it had developed a metaphorical application to removing things the way one might yank an undesirable weed up by the roots. Other descendants of radix in English include radical and radish. Even the word root itself is related; it comes from the same ancient word that gave Latin radix.

Synonym Discussion of eradicate

exterminate, extirpate, eradicate, uproot mean to effect the destruction or abolition of something. exterminate implies complete and immediate extinction by killing off all individuals <exterminate cockroaches>. extirpate implies extinction of a race, family, species, or sometimes an idea or doctrine by destruction or removal of its means of propagation <many species have been extirpated from the area>. eradicate implies the driving out or elimination of something that has established itself <a campaign to eradicate illiteracy>. uproot implies a forcible or violent removal and stresses displacement or dislodgment rather than immediate destruction <the war uprooted thousands>.